During the Middle Ages, guilds were the backbone of urban society. Representing only the masters of each craft, it took years to progress through the stages required to become a recognized expert and gain membership in a guild. The work from each member was expected to be the finest possible and it was from this concept that Shayne Hart and Damon McFadden chose the word GUILD to be the namesake of their business.

Although new to VandM, in the last week of December, 9 out of 10 of the most clicked items on the site were from GUILD. Not a bad start and one that speaks extremely well of the quality of their listings.

Shayne studied English, particularly the literature of the South, and Damon studied theater arts at the Greer Garson School for Theater but their real education has been almost 25 years of working in virtually every area of the design and retail industries.

Shayne opened his first store while still in college with a second one shortly following the next year. Damon began working with Shayne in Dallas where Shayne had been commissioned to do a start-up of another store selling decorative arts and furnishings to the trade and high-end clients.

Along the way, their work has touched down on retail and private interior design, curatorial duties advising clients on forming collections of fine art, working with arts groups and foundations and even recently producing a music video for an East Village band that debuted on VH-1.

Most recently Shayne was Vice-President of Design for non-apparel products and new business ventures at Gap, Inc. and the senior creative officer at Limited Brands, Inc. where he oversaw all areas of design and creative endeavors for the corporation’s entire family of brands. Meanwhile, Damon served as the Corporate Visuals Director for Williams Sonoma, Inc.

Their careers have gone from there to a variety of roles as merchants, strategists, designers, and brand leaders and their work became primarily focused on creative and design leadership. From advising luxury brands on product design and strategic development to operating a store at legendary style emporium Fred Segal in Los Angeles to designing and producing their own brands of products, they joke that their career paths have been more like winding, twisting country roads than straight-ahead autobahn expressways.

Eventually, they decided to return “home” and began work on GUILD with the purpose of taking all of these experiences, a vast network of artists, dealers, crafts people, designers and makers and a real passion for training their creative toolboxes on projects that interest them and putting these things uniquely together “under one roof”.

GUILD, then, is a venture that is somewhat of a new breed in the design industry that purposefully doesn’t limit its activities to a narrow niche of projects. It has been formed to be able to touch a broad range of design, product and trade activities more holistically. These can range from private interior design clients to product development to operating their own retail venture of fine and decorative arts, antiques, and modern furnishings.

GUILD’S location in New Orleans is also central to its aims and aesthetics. Shayne and Damon have amazing access to traditional crafts people and artisans there as well as a vital and revitalized cultural and fine arts community.

GUILD creates and daily updates 2 blog sites. The first, GUILD HALL, shares their inspirations, thoughts and points of interest that touch on everything from music to design to the fine arts to collecting. The other is GUILD COLLECTION which shows their new acquisitions, offerings and items for sale.

Their philosophy is most defined by finding ways to express and share a variety of artistic visions that are held together by unifying factors. It could be a certain uniqueness or an element of unusually high execution or quality but It can also be about quirkiness or an unexpectedly appealing oddness. They are drawn to those things that do what they describe as “betraying the hand of their maker” but remain most interested in those things and designs that are exceptional in every sense. This means that fine art, folk art, unusual found “relics“, quirky antiques, individually crafted modern designs hold the most appeal.

For example, Shayne and Damon found a primitive stringed instrument that had been made by an untrained craftsman and its small size indicated it had probably been intended for use by a child. Its form and wondrous patina captivated them and they began scouring everywhere for others like it. They found a number of them and all have a sculptural quality and tells its own unique story. The collection they have discovered is currently offered on VandM.com.

Their tastes are unerring. They recently discovered a pair of outstanding 19th century oyster plates from Brooklyn’s Union Porcelain Works. One of the most desirable and collectible forms of these plates, they were the first oyster plates manufactured in the United States and are featured in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum and The Smithsonian Institute.

But whimsy plays a large role in their offerings as well. Shayne and Damon recently found a cache of articulating doll’s eyes that look outstanding mounted on custom museum bases. The juxtaposition of “weird” and “wonderful” makes these a prime example of GUILD”S unique point of view. Are they collectibles?  Art? Antiques? In fact, they are all of these when interpreted by Shayne and Damon.

They remain most interested in those things and designs that are exceptional in every sense: they are exceptions and not the rule or standard. This means that fine art, folk art, unusual found “relics“, quirky antiques, and individually crafted modern designs hold the most appeal to them. A collection of vintage optometric instruments offered by GUILD is a perfect example of their point of view. 19th century European in origin, each instrument or occulus has both a time worn patina and a unique mechanistic aura that when fitted on custom stands makes an outstanding presentation.

Shayne says that “the longer you do what we do, the more esoteric and rarified your tastes become. When you’ve been around the parapet a time or three, it just takes a lot more to capture your attention and especially your imagination and desire. This is one reason we refer to GUILD’s collections as ‘covetable goods’.”

In their quest for the finest, GUILD also represents artists and artisans from around the world including Frederique Morrell, Sawkille Co., Carter and Cunningham, and Daniel Forrest Hoffman among others.

In addition, they currently have a home fragrance collection in the works that draws upon New Orleans for its inspiration and a small collection of furniture inspired by the work of minimilist artist Donald Judd.

And as if they weren’t busy enough already, Shayne and Damon recently found an exceptional oil painting of the classical school of a discus thrower. Although unsigned and anonymous, it displays accomplished brushwork and nuanced coloring. Contact GUILD for more information.

Tom Dixon’s copper mirrored ball lights and “etchings” of winter trees used as

Temporary installation by Guild for a national retail client